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According to The Trevor Project’s National Survey on LGBTQ Young People, “roughly half of transgender and nonbinary people found their school to be gender-affirming, and those who did reported lower rates of attempting suicide” (The Trevor Project, 2023). Seeing this statistic should light a fire for every current and future educator to become more aware and involved in protecting their gender-diverse students, as the support from their teachers pays off in the end. The first step teachers can take is to follow the eight “do’s” listed by the American Psychological Association, some of which include the usage of gender-inclusive language and being aware and taking proactive steps to not have any biases in the classroom against these students (American Psychological Association, 2021).

Another source that can help me as a future educator further understand gender diversity is “Pronouns and Bathrooms: Supporting Transgender Students” from Edutopia, which is an article that gives advice to teachers from the Transgender community, such as using student’s preferred pronouns and being sure there are gender neutral bathrooms offered in your school (Edutopia, 2015).

Younger people now more than ever are identifying with a gender other than the sex they were assigned at birth, which makes it important for educators to learn and explore these gender identities. It is important to me especially to ensure that every student in my classroom feels welcome to be themselves without fear or judgment from anyone. I also want them to know that they could always come to me with any issues whether it be bullying or problems at home stemming from their identity, and I will try my best to alleviate the situation for them.

References

Students Exploring Gender Identity (2021, October). American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/ed/schools/primer/gender-identity

The Trevor Project. (2023). 2023 National Survey on LGBTQ Mental Health. https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2023

Pronouns and Bathrooms: Supporting Transgender Students (2015, September). Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/pronouns-bathrooms-supporting-transgender-students-blake-wiggs